Kant’s and Königsberg’s Friends Society supported the initiative of recreating Kant-related places in the region
Gerfried Horst
On February 18 the rector of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University A. Klemeshev had a meeting with Gerfried Horst, rector of the non-academic society named “Kant’s and Königsberg’s Friends Society”. The members of this society, without being experts in the field of philosophy, pursue the educational objective of preserving the memory of Immanuel Kant’s legacy. The meeting was also attended by the director of the Institute of Humanities of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University Valeriy Galtsov and the head of the philosophy department Vadim Chaly.
The outlook of the re-creation of Kant-related places in the Kaliningrad region became the main issue of the meeting. Andrey Klemeshev provided information about the idea of a route devoted to memorable Kant-related places: The Cathedral on the Island in Kaliningrad – the pastor’s house in Vesyolovka village where the young Kant worked as a home teacher and the “Kant’s tower” in Kurortnoe village. Gerfried Horst ardently supported the idea of such a comprehensive approach to the re-creation of memorable places.
“We will completely support this initiative because it is important to preserve and recreate the places relevant to the philosopher’s life not only in the city but in the region as well. We are willing to assist in collecting family archives of descendants of the great philosopher’s acquaintances”.
Mr. Gerfried Horst also put forward the idea of creating an ethnographic exposition Vesyolovka village that would be devoted to the migrants of this territory.
“Today’s meeting is very important in terms of implementing the idea of recreating Kant-related places. There are very educated people in Kant’s Friends Society, for example, members of British aristocracy and descendants of the people who considered themselves Kant’s friends. We are on the cusp of the significant event – Kant’s 290th anniversary. It is important for us to make first steps in working on this route’s recreation by April 2014”, – explained Vadim Chaly.
